New vaccine for meningitis B to be trialled

Doctors based at Southampton's university hospitals are trialling a new vaccine that could offer children across the UK “broad protection” against meningitis B.

The study, being conducted at the NIHR Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at Southampton General Hospital, will investigate the effectiveness of the vaccine in 50 children and young people between the ages of 10 and 18.

This strain of meningitis, known as serogroup B, is a highly aggressive bacterial infection that causes swelling of the brain and spinal cord and can lead to brain damage or blood poisoning.

Professor Saul Faust is a specialist in children's immunology and infectious diseases at Southampton General Hospital and has worked on the vaccine.

He said, “This is an extremely exciting study of a vaccine that could prove to provide broad protection against meningitis B, which is the major cause of brain inflammation and blood poisoning in the UK."

A new vaccine for Meningitis B could be groundbreaking Credit: Press Association